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The great degeneration: how institutions decay and economies die
By Niall Ferguson. 2013
An examination of institutional dysfunction in the Western world argues that such values as a free market and representative government…
are being compromised while future generations are inheriting unmanageable levels of debt. 2013.The frackers: the outrageous inside story of the new billionaire wildcatters
By Gregory Zuckerman. 2014
In five years, the United States has seen a historic burst of oil and natural gas production, easing our insatiable…
hunger for energy. A new drilling process called fracking has made us the world's fastest growing energy power, on track to pass Saudi Arabia by 2020. But despite headlines and controversy, no previous book has shown how the revolution really happened. The Frackers tells the dramatic tale of how a group of ambitious and headstrong wildcatters ignored the ridicule of experts and derision of colleagues to pursue massive, long-overlooked deposits. Against all odds, they changed the world- and made astonishing fortunes in the process. Zuckerman's exclusive access enabled him to get close to men like George Mitchell, who developed a new way to drill for gas in shale rock; Harold Hamm, who discovered so much oil he's now worth more than the estate of Steve Jobs; and Aubrey McClendon, who lost more than billion on a misguided gambit. Zuckerman shows how the frackers are now using their wealth to shake up Hollywood, education, politics, sports, and other fields, much like the Rockefellers and Gettys before them. He also explores the debate over the environmental risks of fracking, and whether those risks are worth it for the United States to achieve energy independence and for the rest of the world to follow. 2014.The frigate Pallada
By Ivan Aleksandrovich Goncharov. 1987
The 19th century Russian author's account of an 1852-1853 journey from St. Petersburg around the Cape of Good Hope, up…
to Japan on the frigate "Pallada", concluding with an overland trek across Siberia. c1987. Uniform title: Fregat "Pallada".The forgotten man: a new history of the Great Depression
By Amity Shlaes. 2007
Economics reporter analyzes the Great Depression era in the United States and posits that federal intervention in the economy lengthened…
its duration. Considers economic plans from members of Franklin Roosevelt's brain trust and alternate solutions of outsiders such as African American Father Divine and Alcoholics Anonymous founder Bill Wilson. 2007.The end of the river: dams, drought and déjà vu on the Rio São Francisco
By Brian J Harvey. 2008
A biologist searches for a solution that will save many fish species from life-threatening dams. His adventures take him from…
a fisheries patrol boat on the Fraser River to the great Tsukiji fish market in Japan, with stops in the Philippines, Thailand, and assorted South American countries. Portrays fishermen, fish farmers, and even fish cops in a new light, as well as scientists, shysters, and some very drunk, hairy Brazilian men in thongs. Some strong language, some descriptions of sex, and some descriptions of violence. c2008.The end of growth
By Jeff Rubin. 2012
Economist and resource analyst Jeff Rubin is certain that the world's governments are getting it wrong - instead of moving…
us toward economic recovery, measures being taken around the globe right now are digging us into a deeper hole. Both politicians and economists are missing the fact that the real engine of economic growth has always been cheap, abundant fuel and resources, but that era is over. The end of cheap oil signals the end of growth - and the end of easy answers to renewing prosperity. c2012.The horizontal Everest: extreme journeys on Ellesmere Island
By Jerry Kobalenko. 2002
Ellesmere Island lays a mere 450 miles from the North Pole and has the highest peaks in the Western Hemisphere…
east of the Rockies. For more than a decade, Kobalenko has traced the routes of explorers and Inuits, and broken many new trails across the frozen terrain of Ellesmere Island. He investigates the motives and mistakes of the island's first explorers, searches for clues to the mysterious disappearance of scientist-explorer Dr. Hans Kruger and the murder of an Inuit guide. 2002.The hill of Kronos
By Peter Levi. 1981
Greece as seen through the eyes of a sensitive traveller - English classicist, archaeologist, and former Jesuit priest, whose poetic…
observations about the land and its people are interspersed with personal narrative. c1981.The happy isles of Oceania: paddling the Pacific
By Paul Theroux. 1992
Renowned travel writer Theroux embarks on an exotic exploration of the Pacific Islands. From New Zealand to Hawaii, with stops…
in New Guinea, Fiji, Samoa and others, he explores the lush landscapes, encounters unique wildlife, and lives among the fascinating peoples who have made Oceania their home. c1992.The author began a quest to find out more about an artist from the Cariboo named Sonia Cornwall (1919-2006). Through…
interviews, letters, original artworks, articles, exhibition catalogues, imaginings of conversations and occurrences, along with her own reflections on the experience, she pieced together a story of pioneering, love and the pursuit of art. But in searching for Sonia, the author found an unanticipated new friend in Sonia's mother, Vivien Cowan (1893-1990), who became a larger part of the story than she could possibly have imagined. 2013.The Group of Seven and Tom Thomson: an introduction
By Anne Newlands. 1995
The great Nadar: the man behind the camera
By Adam Begley. 2017
The first great portrait photographer, a pioneering balloonist, the first person to take an aerial photograph, and the prime mover…
behind the first airmail service, Nadar was one of the original celebrity artist-entrepreneurs. A kind of 19th-century Andy Warhol, he knew everyone worth knowing and photographed them all, conferring on posterity psychologically compelling portraits of Manet, Sarah Bernhardt, Delacroix, Daumier and countless others - a priceless panorama of Parisian celebrity. 2017.The gypsy in me: from Germany to Romania in search of youth, truth and Dad
By Ted Simon. 1997
The author recounts his 1500 mile journey, much of it on foot, through Eastern Germany, Poland, Russia, Ukraine, and Romania,…
making personal connections with people in the turbulent region, and learning more about himself and his parents who had escaped from there years before. 1997.The ecology of commerce: a declaration of sustainability
By Paul Hawken. 1993
Provides a blueprint for a marketplace where businesses and environmentalists work together, showing companies how to redesign and manufacture products…
in innovative ways, re-educate customers, and work closely with government toward a profitable, productive, and ecologically sound future. 2005, c1993.The diamond that cuts through illusion: commentaries on the praynaparamita Diamond sutra
By Thich Nhat Hanh, Anh Huong Nguyen. 1992
The Buddha and his disciple Subhuti teach us how to cut through our dualistic ways of looking at the world…
in order to have a deeper contact with the wondrous reality that is inside us and all around us. 1992.The Darwin economy: liberty, competition, and the common good (Your coach in a box)
By Robert H Frank. 2011
Frank looks at how economic competition is actually hindering the "common good." He explains that Charles Darwin's theory on the…
clash between individual and group interests is a perfect analogy for today's economic landscape. 2011.The circus at the edge of the earth: travels with the Great Wallenda Circus
By Charles Wilkins. 1998
The author travelled over three-thousand kilometres in Canada in order to get the inside story on life with a travelling…
circus. He vividly describes the seductive freedoms and horrific risks of traditional circus life. He also shares the lives of the circus performers and their motivations for becoming a member of a travelling troupe. 1998.The cult of impotence: selling the myth of powerlessness in the global economy
By Linda McQuaig. 1998
McQuaig looks into the popular belief that the Canadian economy is beyond Canada's control, held at the mercy of globalization…
and technology. Instead, she argues, the international community has the tools to regulate the world financial system to everyone's benefit, as was done in the decades after World War II. 1998.The collapse of globalism: and the reinvention of the world
By John Ralston Saul. 2005
Globalism, where world markets would supplant nation-states, has failed even as it succeeded, by increasing GDP or individual wealth in…
some countries while allowing the paralyzing accumulation of debt in the third world. In the meantime, economies have artificially inflated and imploded. The author also faults a system where multinational corporations attempt to replace government infrastructure and "overly complex" management is mistaken for leadership. 2005.The cash nexus: money and power in the modern world, 1700-2000 (Allen Lane History Ser.)
By Niall Ferguson. 2001
Throughout modern history, the way states have managed their money has been crucial to their survival and success. It has…
been finance as much as firepower that has decided the fates of nations in the supreme test of war. The cash nexus is the crucial point where money and power meet. But does money make the political world go round? Does the success of democracy depend on economic growth? Does victory always go to the richest of the great powers? Or are financial markets the true 'masters' of the modern world? 2001.